The head of the Knesset Committee for the Rights of the Child, MK Orly Levi-Abekasis, has called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to intervene on behalf of Eyal Yifrah, Gil-Ad Shayer and Naftali Frenkel.
In an open letter to the UN chief one day after Secretary Ban condemned the abduction and called for their immediate release, Levi-Abekasis noted that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, requires signatories to the convention to “take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form” (Article 35). As such, she called on Ban to back up his statement with United Nations resources.
Abekasis noted that the abduction constitutes “a horrendous breach of the most basic humanitarian conventions; regardless of their political views,” as well as a “profound infringement of conventions and a blatant violation of the right of Israeli children to lead a peaceful, unthreatened life.
“These are not soldiers, nor were they engaged in battle – they are three young adolescents who should have been dividing their time between preparation for their final exams and their family circle,” Abekasis wrote.